You're the One that's making me Strong
by the ancient mystic
Summary: When Samantha Jones is sent to live in America with her aunt and uncle, her life is turned upside down. Until she meets a stranger in white. Why is there connection between them? What secrets are being kept hidden? and how will she survive life in a new country?
1. Chapter 1

" _Think of the happiest things, things that give you wings, to the magic beyond words, to stars above the world. You can fly."_

* * *

Two more days, just two more days and they will come and get me. Just two more days. She kept chanting her internal monologue over and over again. It had to be only two more days and her grandparents would come and bring her home. Just two more days. They had cared for her for 5 years, they wouldn't just leave her in California, thousands of miles from home with people she didn't know. Two more days and they would bring her home.

She stopped pacing and flopped down on the mattress. It was pink. She hated pink. The last time she'd owned anything pink was 10 years ago. There were many other colours she liked, although most were basically green. And yet the room was pink. Why?

There was a knock on the door, "Sammy, you alright, baby?" The woman, her aunt Hayley, seemed concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied cheerfully, trying to keep her voice even and free of malice. Being rude or naughty or disrespectful meant bad things. She rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly.

Her parents' had separated when she was little. Things had been amicable for a while. Years had passed though and there had been more fighting. Then her dad died. From what, she'd never been told. That had been the last time that she had seen her older brothers. Their father's funeral. That was 5 years ago now, and the only thing she knew was that Leo had become a solicitor and Joe was now living in America.

Life was so complicated. Her family was split up. Joe and Leo had moved out when they went to university, her dad was dead, her mum didn't care and she was here because of her grandfather's heart attack. It was so frustrating. What could she say though. I hate this place, I want to go home. No, she would just have to stay silent. Silence was always best.

She got up and pulled on the black tank top and shorts that were lying on the chair. School was starting next week and Hayley was opening her new cafe then as well. There were still lots of things to do so she was going with her after breakfast. That and she wanted to get her mind off of her approaching entrance of the 8th grade.

Her uncle was sitting at the table examining some fossils. Grandma had said once that Tommy had a fascination with dinosaurs.

"Morning Princess," he smiled at her, when she sat down. "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good," she replied, smiling.

Hayley walked over and put a box of cereal on the table in front of her. "Tommy, what happened to not playing with rocks at the table. That's why you have an office."

He put a hand on his heart, "what's so wrong with wanting to spend time with my wife."

Hayley rolled her eyes, "just eat your breakfast."

Standing, balanced on a stool trying to hang pictures, really wasn't one of her best ideas. Especially as the stool was half on the rug and kept wobbling precariously.

Hayley had asked her to hang pictures on the wall. They had been fairly easy to hang, except for the few right now. She had to stretch over the spikey plant while trying not to fall off. It was a good thing that she had attended dance lessons from the age of five.

"Um...Hello?"

She twisted around suddenly, lost her balance and ended up on the floor.

"Hey, are you alright?" a boy said offering his hand to her. He was fairly tall, with messy dark hair, and eyes, that seemed very familiar.

She grabbed his outstretched hand and stood up. "Thanks...uh...is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm looking for Hayley, I need to give her this," he gestured to the piece of paper. "It's about the bus boy job."

Hayley had mentioned something about looking for a bus boy. "She's kinda busy right now, but I could give it to her for you, if you want."

"That would great, uh?" he said handing her the application.

"Sammy, and it's no problem," she glanced down at the name, "Trent. I'll give it to her later, when she's finished."

He smiled at her, "thanks." He opened his mouth again, as if to say something, but promptly shut it.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked, filling the obvious silence.

"I...hm...your accent it's..."

She knew what he was going to say. Being welsh came with two problems, tourists trying to do the stereotypical welsh accent and endless jokes about sheep.

"Before you say anything else, I'm welsh. No, Wales is not in England, not everyone with the surname Jones is related and we do not have sexual liaisons with sheep..."

"Wait," he said, interrupting her rant, "I was going to say that I like your accent. It's different."

"Thanks," she replied, quietly.

He was the first person outside of the family who hadn't made some stereotypical remark about the welsh.

"I should probably be getting back," he said suddenly, breaking the silence. "My Dad doesn't know about any of this and I want to keep it that way. Maybe I'll see you around."

"Um... sure," she replied, confused as to the sudden exit.

"Hey Sam," Hayley said coming out of the backroom, "I need your help sorting stock."

"I'm coming," Sammy replied. Her eyes lingered on the door a moment longer before following her aunt.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N-Hi, this is the Ancient Mystic. Here is the latest chapter of You're the One that's making me Strong. Sorry it has taken a while but I am working on several other projects at the same time.**

 **Disclaimer-As usual, I don't own anything except my OCs Sammy and Violet**.

* * *

School, probably the worst creation since human kind first came into existence. Whoever thought it was a good idea to force eight hundred kids to listen to endless lectures about why the Pythagorean theorem can be useful in everyday life, was clearly an idiot. Add in the very real fact that teenagers are back stabbing little monsters and you've got a recipe for disaster.

"And then they were like oh, wanna sheep. Ugh, I just want to break their fingers," Sammy said angrily into the phone.

The first day in a new school was always murder. Try being the new girl from a country famous for its sheep. Being called 'Sheep Shagger' all day gets old pretty fast.

 _"Woah Sam, going a bit overboard aren't you."_

"What Blake, they're right little bastards, they deserve it. Tell Hunter, he would agree with me," she retorted.

Ah, Hunter and Blake, her cousins. Well...adopted cousins. As different as day and night. The one blonde and brooding, the other dark and cheerful. They were very close with her, almost like siblings. According to Tommy they had been like that since they met. She didn't remember their first meeting herself, but apparently it involved some cookies, a stuffed bunny and them playing together uninterrupted for several hours.

 _"Sam, you there?"_

She returned the phone to her ear, "yeah Blake."

 _"I just found Hunter, he said if you break their fingers he wants to see it."_

"Did he say anything else?" she asked pausing where she was in the corridor and toying with a lock of her hair out of sheer boredom.

 _"No, but Cam says that breaking fingers is assault, you'd probably get into trouble with police and either end up with a record or if it was serious enough, end up in Juvie."_

Typical. Cam was one of Hunter and Blake's friends and from what she knew of him seemed unable to give a short answer.

"Anything else?"

 _"Oh yeah, he also says that you seem to have a bit of a violent streak,"_ Blake replied.

"Is Cam there right now?" Sammy asked, trying not to sound too annoyed.

 _"Yeah, he is. He's playing with a robot."_

In the background she heard someone say indignantly, _"I am not playing with a robot!"_

 _"Yeah he is,"_ Blake muttered back

"Put him on then. I want a word."

She heard the sound of muffled voices as the phone was passed. _"Hello Sam. What can I do for you?"_ Cam's voice said down the phone.

" _Stop_ saying that I have some sort of anger issues," she all but yelled down the phone

 _"Look I'm sorry but..."_

"Sorry my ass," she interrupted him. "I do not have a violent streak! And if you say that I do again, you'll see just how violent I can be!"

The high school students walking past her just stared at the outburst.

 _"Are you done threatening me?" Cam responded unfazed_

She thought for a moment, "um...yeah."

 _"Good. Is there anything else you want, or is that it?"_

"Tell Blake, I'll be on online later," Sammy replied, ending the call abruptly. She was still a bit annoyed at being called violent. She was not violent.

"Hello Sam, you're early,"

She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Tommy was standing right behind her.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," she said softly. "The teachers let us go early, so I came here. I hope that's okay."

Okay stop talking now. She lowered her eyes quickly to the floor.

"No, that's fine," he replied. "What's wrong?"

"I...uh," she stammered. This was definitely not going well.

"Dr Oliver,"

A woman with short dark hair and glasses had just come striding down the corridor towards them. Whoever this woman was she had basically just saved her from probably being locked in her room. The woman came to a halt in front of them and looked directly at her.

"Principal Randall," Tommy said in some form of greeting, drawing the woman's attention back to him.

Sammy edged closer to her uncle. She didn't like this woman. Something about her just exuded evil.

"How was you first day?"

"Oh, the kids were great," her uncle replied, walking up the nearby flight of stairs. Sammy following close behind.

"Good because you'll be seeing them in detention," Principal Randall said turning down a corridor.

Sammy looked straight at her uncle in surprise. This was new, a teacher being put in detention. Clearly he thought so too.

"Mind telling me what I did?" he asked

"No, you're incharge of it today."

"Actually I had plans to go to a museum outside of town and..."

"Great, bring the little monsters with you. That should be sufficient torture for them," Principal Randall replied, a sadistic glint in her dark eyes.

They came to a stop. Three teenagers were sitting outside the Principal's office. A floppy haired brunette, a coloured lad with a computer and a girl holding a guitar. Red, blue and yellow. They were clearly fans of primary colours and all looked thouroghly annoyed at being caught.

"You guys like museums?"

* * *

"Okay, I will see you at 5 o'clock by the main entrance," Tommy said. The pair of them were currently standing outside one of the rooms in the Community Centre. "And if anything happens, call. I'll be here immediately."

"Don't worry Doctor Oliver. I've had many of students and the worse thing that ever happened was a dislocated knee." The teacher, a slim young woman with a short blonde pony tail, said.

"Okay then," Tommy said, seemingly placated. "I'll see you later,"

The teacher put an arm around her shoulders and lead her into the room."Why don't you join the girls over there."

She walked to where the group of girls were sitting and sat down. One of the girls, a slender brunette with matching brown eyes, turned around and smiled at her. "Hi, I'm Violet, Violet Smith," she said cheerfully.

"Um...hi," Sammy responded, slightly taken aback by the sudden cheerfulness.

"What do I call you?" she continued, in her overly cheerful manner.

"Sammy,"

"Hi Sammy." She shifted her position and leaned on her knees. "So, how long have you been in Reefside for then?

"Few weeks," Sammy replied while trying to stop her hair from coming loose again. "What about you?"

"I moved here about 5 years ago. My mum's from here so, yeah." She paused and then said, "come here. Let me."

She took ahold of the remaining bobby pins and started retwisting Sammy's hair, adding a pin near and there.

"Here you go. Done,"

Sammy turned back to the other girl. "Thanks. My Grandma used to do it for me. I never mastered it myself."

Violet smiled, "it's no problem, I help my little sister with her's as well. You know, I've got some really good hairspray you can use if you want. It might help until you can put your hair up yourself."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Sammy replied

"Okay, I'll bring it into school on Thursday ready for our next lesson."

"Alright girls, let's begin," the teacher said walking to the front of the room.

* * *

"Thank you for the lift, Mrs Smith," Sammy called to the woman behind the wheel.

It was a good thing that she and Violet had become friends, otherwise things could have been awkward. Tommy had called after the lesson had finished saying that something had come up and he was unable to pick her up. Violet seeing her waiting outside the Community Centre and had said her mum could give her a lift home.

As it turned out Violet was British as well. She had been born in England, but had moved to California so her mother could be near her family.

"She's changed."

She stopped abruptly, hand still on the front door. They were talking.

"I don't know what Joanne did, but if I find out it was something serious, she'll regret it."

"Tommy, Sammy's here now. She's with us. Your sister can't hurt her."

This was not good. Anytime she had talked about usually ended up with her being punished for doing something wrong. She always tried to keep her head down and avoid confrontation, but sometimes it happened anyway.

She headed towards the stairs silently, hoping to whatever God was out there, that they wouldn't notice her.

"Hello Sam, I didn't hear you come in,"

Damn.

She turned to her aunt. She had moved and was standing in the hall. "I didn't mean to disturb you," she said softly, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor.

"No it's fine, I was just trying to decide who out of this lot, I should hire," she said gesturing to the piece of paper in her hand. "Why don't you come into the kitchen with me"

Sammy followed quietly, waiting for the punishment that was surely waiting for her in the kitchen. She had learned long ago not to ask what she had done wrong because it just makes things worse.

"How was your dance lesson?" Hayley asked setting a glass and a carton of juice on the table.

"It was good," she replied

Okay...Maybe she wasn't going to be punished right now. But if not that...what the hell was going on. There were bits of paper and news clippings from the 90s spread out on the table. And where was her uncle. He had definitely been there because she had heard him speak, but how had he left the room without her hearing him.

"Did you make any new friends?" Hayley asked, tidying the papers away in a folder before taking a package of tomatoes from the fridge.

"Yes," Sammy replied, "A girl called Violet. Her mother was the one who brought me back here."

"That was good of her." Hayley said, picking up a knife and starting to dice the tomatoes. "By the way, Tommy says that's he's sorry he wasn't there to meet you. Something came up at work that he had to sort out."

"May I leave now?" Sammy asked quickly, wanting to get out of the one on one conversation.

Hayley stopped dicing and looked at her, slightly shocked at the question. "Of course. Why don't you go take a shower before dinner."

"Thank you," Sammy replied taking her bag and leaving the room. As she left, Tommy walked back into the kitchen and looked at Hayley as if to say 'I told you so'.

* * *

 **A/N-That's it for now, Chapter 3 will be up when I've finished writing it. Hope you've enjoyed it and don't forget to leave a review in the box below. See you guys later. AM**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N-Hi, I'm back, sorry about the wait, I have been working on other projects. AM**

 **Disclaimer-Any recognisable dialogue is not mine.**

* * *

Here it was, the Cybercafe. He was slightly apprehensive of starting his first shift if being truthful. It wasn't the job that worried him, it was how long he would be able to keep it a secret. His dad didn't know about the job, he had forged the signature on the application without his knowledge. His dad didn't approve of many of the activities he enjoyed, he had told him outright as well. 'Artist abilities are a waste of time, do not mistake me when I say that I do not approve.' He never did raise his voice, but the throbbing of a vein at his throat and the slight twitching of an eyebrow cemented his mood clearly. Drawing was abhorred, and a job as a bus boy would be even worse.

He was on time, it was ten to three, so he was actually early. The room was busy, very busy, full of other teenagers and a few adults as well, but mostly teens. He couldn't see Hayley anywhere, she was his new boss, or the other kid that he was sharing the shift either, though he was a bit vague on what the later looked like.

Hayley was really friendly when she had interviewed him. Apparently she was looking for kids who were responsible, but at the same time were friendly and good with customers. He had been given two shifts a week, Wednesday and Friday from three till six. She had told him to turn up just before three and that she would get him started. The only problem was that he couldn't see her, and bright red hair did tend to stand out in a crowd.

He had already asked a curly haired guy who said he couldn't help him. The were plenty of other people nearby that he could ask, though most seemed to be involved in conversations so he was loathe to ask them. There was one table though, to his right, whose occupants weren't doing anything in particular. An African American boy in mostly blue and a girl in yellow with long honey coloured hair were both on computers, one playing some game and the other on the internet.

He walked over to the pair, "Hey, I'm looking for Hayley, I'm suppose to start work today," he said.

"She's around here somewhere, haven't I seen you around Reefside?" the boy asked.

"I just moved here last week, my name's Trent,"

"I'm Ethan, and this is Kira," the boy replied.

"Hi,"the girl said.

"If you want to find Hayley you could try the stockroom, she might be in there with the other guy," Ethan suggested helpfully.

"Or she's coming this way," Kira cut in.

"Trent, good you're here," Hayley smiled, walking over to the three. "Come with me and I'll get you started."

He gave his thanks the the pair and followed Hayley to behind the wooden counter, "Thanks for the job and all," he said.

Hayley smiled again, "Don't mention it, Trent. You're the kind of employee I need here."

"Okay, where do I start?" he asked.

"Steven's in the stockroom, he'll be out in a bit…"

Steven, that must be the other kid that had his shift.

"...you can start off serving behind the counter, and he can get the tables. Does that sound okay to you?"

* * *

His first day had turned out quite well. Hayley had effectively tossed him in the deep end and left him to deal with the after school rush of hungry teenagers, though she was never really that far. Steven hadn't turned out to be as much help as he had originally thought. He was tall, well taller than himself at least, and thin, very thin. It looked like he had had a growths spurt, without being told that it would involve him getting bigger. He was easy enough to get on with, though in truth he'd been glad when Steven had gone home, the guy had some issue with the Jocks. He didn't know what it was about, but he kept making offhand remarks about them every time he had to serve one.

The throng of customers had thinned out eventually just before they had closed at six. Ethan and Kira had left with a boy in red not long after he'd spoken with them. And Hayley had kept returning, checking on how he was getting on. She had switched their roles over about half way through the shift. He had seen lots of people during his time waiting on tables, except the one that he would have expected to. Sammy hadn't shown her face the entire time and that was strange. It was the cafe's grand opening and she was Hayley's niece after all. Even Dr Oliver had stayed for a bit, Hayley had mentioned that they were married, but still no sign of Sammy. He didn't even know if she was in the building. No matter how small she was, the battered green Converse were always a bit of a give away, according to Hayley, she never took them off.

Stacking the last of the Mountain Dew, he left the stockroom. Speak of the devil, Sammy was in front of the counter mopping the floor. It was a rather comical sight, she wasn't very big and the mop was almost the same size.

He walked up to her, "hey, Sam."

She didn't look up. "Hello, Trent," she replied evenly, ringing the mop out in the bucket.

"I didn't know you were here,"

"I was studying in the back room," she replied, still not straying from the even tone.

That's probably where Hayley must have been earlier. The back room doubled as the office and was where he had been interviewed.

He picked up the rag on the counter. "What were you looking at?" he asked casually, sweeping the rag over the surface.

"The causes and repercussions of the First World War," she replied.

"Sounds…interesting."

It really didn't.

"Yes, it is," she replied flatly.

Something had changed about her. Before she had been friendly if not a bit defensive, now she was flat and unwilling to respond beyond a few basic sentences.

"I wouldn't have the patience to read something like that," he paused. "Whenever I try I usually just end up drawing instead."

"That's nice," she murmured.

He stopped, "are you okay?" he asked, brows furrowed.

"I'm fine," she replied softly.

* * *

The early evening sun shone through the window. He sat down and opened up the almost non existent paper on his computer. It was a balmy Friday evening and he had been planning to sit by the lake and do some drawing. His dad was going out for the evening and had 'instructed' him to spend the time to work on his paper.

His science teacher, Dr Oliver, had set them the task of picking a fossil and writing a paper on whichever creature it was, without the use of the internet. He'd said that it was so that he could gage their knowledge.

It wasn't that he was trying to skive off his homework, it was more that Palaeontology was something that his brain didn't agree with. It never had, his Mom and Dad had both been passionate about the subject and used to get him to name the pictures that they had taken of the fossils they were studying, but none of it ever stuck. All he could ever see were the patterns within the stones.

The fossil that he had picked looked to be something with wings. Dr Oliver had given them the names of the fossils and a tag line of sorts for each, just not which corresponded with which.

He had managed to come to the decision that it was probably the Archaeopteryx, 'the Missing Link'. The only problem was that he didn't know that much about one.

It was fairly comprehensive to say that he was stuck. His dad had said that he expected nothing other than straight 'A's in every subject, as _"anything else would be an insult to the name Mercer,"_ and that would be doubtful if he handed in his homework next Tuesday with only the words, _'The Archaeopteryx is called the 'Missing Link' because…'_

He signed into his Chatter account and went on the search bar, trying to find one name in particular. It was a good website, built on the premise that you can speak with anyone in either messages, pictures or, if they were online as well, in video chat.

He scrolled through the names that came up and there a lot of them. It was normally easier to find someone. There were two lists, one was for people you have talked to recently and the other was for 'friends', people who you talk to often. The problem came when trying to find a 'stranger', someone who you either hadn't talked to recently or had never talked to, you needed to know their birthdate, or middle name or something that wasn't shown on their public profile.

He started adding things to the search until he had gotten the name he was looking for. He clicked on the link for video call and waited as the call went through, hopefully Dr Oliver would be willing to give him a hint.

" _Hello, Trent,"_ a face had appeared on screen.

"Hey, Sam, you're not busy?"

" _No, I was just reading,"_ she replied, gesturing to the book just visible within the camera frame. _"Is something wrong?"_

"Yeah, I'm trying to write my Palaeontology paper and I'm having problems. Is there anyway you could help me and ask Dr Oliver something?"

She froze slightly, and in a very quiet voice said, _"what would you like me to ask him?"_

"Can you ask him why the Archaeopteryx is called the missing link?"

" _Are you not supposed to be writing on your own?"_ she asked, cocking her head to the side and staring at him questioningly, a look that made her large blue eyes look owlish.

"I am," he replied, "but I need straight A's as well."

" _Well, the Archaeopteryx had the appearance of the modern day bird, with a wish bone and some symmetrical flight feathers in its wings, but it also had the characteristics of some dinosaurs or reptiles like the teeth and bony tail. So you could say that it was half and half,"_ Sammy rattled off suddenly.

"How do you know all that?"

" _There was a book,"_ she replied, something sparked in her eyes, _"give me a minute."_

She turned away from the screen and got up, giving him an unfettered look at the surroundings. Everything was pink, the floor, the furniture, the curtains, everything except for the walls which were white. From a artist's point of view, the colours were good, they didn't clash. But that seemed to be entirely missed on Sammy, who, bent over the chest of drawers in the corner, stood out in her pale green shorts.

After a few minutes of this happening she returned to the screen.

"Nice room," he said.

She glanced around begrudgingly, _"I suppose. Anyway, I found the book."_ She held up the book that she had been searching for. It was red leather bound with gold wording up the side reading, _Ronsom's Encyclopaedia of Archosauria and their Genus_.

She started flipping through pages. _"Here it is," she said eventually. "Archaeopteryx, also known by the German Urv…urv…urv…o...gel meaning Original or first wing…"_

He switched programs and started typing quickly while she spoke. Hopefully this would be good enough to keep his dad happy.

" _...They lived in the Late Jurassic era, about 150 million years ago, in what is now southern Germany when it was an archipelago closer to the Equator. They were known to live on land near stagnant salty lagoons, where life survived on the surface of the toxic waters. The only known specimens to have been found showed signs of immaturity and as such was probably the reason why they died."_

He pressed Save. "Thanks, Sam, you're a life saver."

" _That's okay,"_ she replied, leaning to the side to put the book down.

Suddenly a large distorted head fell in front of the camera and took up most of the screen.

"Uh…what's that?"

In the edge of the screen he saw Sammy reach up and remove whatever the object was.

As she withdrew it, he could see what it was, a bunny, a stuffed bunny. She held it up to the screen. It was old and frayed in a few paces, and had faded from varying shades of pale pink to grey.

"What's her name?"

" _He's called Beanie,"_ she replied

He snorted with laughter, "Why did you call it Beanie?"

" _Because it's filled with beans, it's a beanie bunny,"_ she explained in such a serious voice that made her sound as if it was the most logical thing in the world.

"I used have a stuffed animal," he said suddenly. "I don't know where it went though."

" _Where's Deeno, Trent? Find Deeno?"_ A woman said from somewhere deep within his memory.

" _Trent? Are you okay?"_

He came back to reality suddenly. "...Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Thanks, Sam. See you later."

He pressed ESC and the screen went dark again. He had no idea what Deeno was or who's voice it was either. Oh well.

He leaned back in his chair and glanced around, what to do now. He could return to his earlier plan of sketching outside now, although…

A _ping_ made him look back to the screen, a message had popped up, _SAJ has just added you to her friends list._

He smiled. Thanks Sam. She really had been a big help to him. He'd have to do something to thank her. That's what he could do. He turned his chair around and started digging through the pile beside his computer. It was a really bad habit he'd developed. There were piles of things everywhere, on his desk, by his bed, underneath the floorboards in one particular spot. It all looked like total chaos, but to him everything had a place in a system. The only problem was that things never ended up in the same place.

He stood up and looked around, where was it? He had been using the sketch pad last night by the lake…then he had come back inside and put it down and…and. Ugh! He flopped down on the bed and rubbed a hand over his face. It was one pad in particular, specially designed for comics and cartoons, the paper was thicker, better for absorbing ink.

His dad had one rule, independence. And cleaning his room was his own responsibility, no one else's. Lucky him, it allowed his piles of random things to manifest, not so good now though, was it?

His dad…his dad had come up to his room last night to speak with him about something…he had been on his bed drawing and…

He got up, stuffed behind the head board was the sketch pad. He'd hidden it there last night so that his dad wouldn't know that he had been drawing again. He flipped it open and started doing some rough sketches. The storyline played out fairly easily. Young hero, tragic past, ass kicking, a bunny, it worked. Hopefully she would like it too.

* * *

 **A/N-Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon...sooner than this one. AM**


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